Interview with Sociology Professor Peter Phillips from Sonoma County University, California, USA – founder of Project Censored & author of dissertation: A Relative Advantage: Sociology of the San Francisco Bohemian Club (1994) – he discusses Bohemian Grove where rich and influential men, including politicians, meet once a year to have fun and network

Hear transgender activist/musician Ryan Cassata in a short interview, followed by a solo performance on the Trans Pride stage at Mission Dolores Park just before Trans March. Ryan has been at the Trans March at least the past three years, and a strong voice for transgender liberation. (13 minutes)
Since finishing high school about three years ago, he has released several music CD's, performs live with his band and solo, and has devoted much of his life to transgender activism, including speaking at high profile events. He's one of my favorites, I'm glad to have caught up with him for a couple of minutes. His current CD is titled "Soul Sounds." (13 minutes)

Born and raised in San Francisco, Favi began singing at an early age. Now Flores Verdes "Green Flowers" is a Vocalist group based out of San Francisco and Berkeley, California. These Queens have combined their unique styles of singing by, infusing Spanish and English lyrics over hip-hop/reggae beats. Their angelic vocals transform healing waters inside our souls. Expressing different reflections of womyn-hood, bringing back old traditions of honoring our sacred lands, supporting our elders, o...

JUST IN from the amazing folks at the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project.
The long-awaited "Narratives of Displacement" is an oral history project map featuring the stories of the displaced upon a background of no-fault evictions in San Francisco and foreclosures in Alameda County. "The audio and video stories are embedded on the map, often in short and long format, so that viewers can engage in different clips of stories, or at times delve into deeper stories of loss and resistance." Check it ou...

A tenant’s rights convention was held at the Tenderloin Community School all day last Saturday, April 25. The event was sponsored by the San Francisco Anti-Displacement Coalition, which is a joint collaboration of most or all of the housing rights organizations in the city. The Coalition is together to continue a multi-pronged campaign to turn around the escalating epidemic of big money-oriented evictions aimed at driving the price of housing out of reach of mostly everyone except wealthy people (5 min).
Sarah Shortt gave an inspiring talk early in the program, very effectively framing the current rental environment and the need to fight back personally and collectively against all evictions. She describes dynamics of the real estate speculator-driven climate. While Ellis Act evictions were way down in the second half of 2014 as a result of all the political and direct action to fight back against the corrupt process, these evictions are up sharply this year at a rate, suggesting 2015 might be yet another record year for SF evictions.
Additionally, Sarah points out the short-lived drop in Ellis Act filings had not at all part of an overall drop in evictions. Landlords have simply shifted tactics to what are being called “no fault” and “fake fault” evictions – either just evicting for no reason or using high-priced legal help to just fire out 3-Day eviction notices for tiny little perceived or purely made up reasons to void the lease. Renters have tended to flee either because they don’t know their rights and think these procedures are legal and binding; don’t have money or access to take legal actions against big money real-estate lawyers; or flee due to fear and stress over the types of sustained harassment they are forced to take.
Speculators are using coerced buyouts on the cheap – under both and phony threats that the landlord will take the property under the Ellis Act. Buyouts have been used to quietly eliminate rent controlled stock without record of eviction, and have often resulted in the landlord simply re-renting the building at escalated market rents or moving towards “tenancy-in-common” condos.
Sarah was clear and inspiring in her message to tenants to know your rights and to stand up and fight evictions and join the collective housing movement. Many of these evictions threatened and initiated aren’t even legal and often don’t stick under legal scrutiny and sustained direct action. Direct actions to fight and expose “serial evictors” (corporations buying up and clearing out multiple units for profit) and pressure city hall into taking appropriate action to take responsibility to create a climate in which affordable housing is available to meet the needs of people at all income levels.
Residents who take personal and collective actions to fight to retain their units and buildings using a combination of legal and direct action are increasingly stopping their evictions, while driving up the actual costs and economic and legal risks involved in these big-money displacement maneuvers.

A tenant’s rights conference was held at the Tenderloin Community School all day last Saturday, April 25. The event was sponsored by the San Francisco Anti-Displacement Coalition, which is a joint collaboration of most or all of the housing rights organizations in the city. The Coalition is together to continue a multi-pronged campaign to turn around the escalating epidemic of big money-oriented evictions aimed at driving the price of housing out of reach of mostly everyone except wealthy people (5 min).
Local labor is firmly involved in the SF housing movement against evictions. While rents continue to escalate out of control due to a manufactured artificial scarcity of homes and landlord price gauging, SF rents are increasingly out of reach for city employees. Over at least the last decade, city hall has presided over a hostile labor climate in which wages have been purposely stagnated, sending actual and real quality of wages way downward.
Union workers and housing activists are in alliance in this fight, with national real estate money flooding in to oppose every little thing that is needed to obtain justice. Mike Casey gives a rousing speech on the need to stand up and fight speculator-driven evictions and turn the political climate around.

A tenant’s rights conference was held at the Tenderloin Community School all day last Saturday, April 25. The event was sponsored by the San Francisco Anti-Displacement Coalition, which is a joint collaboration of most or all of the housing rights organizations in the city. The Coalition is together to continue a multi-pronged campaign to turn around the escalating epidemic of big money-oriented evictions aimed at driving the price of housing out of reach of mostly everyone except wealth...

Silvia from Mujeres UnidasYActivas Interview of March19th Rally@Sac. on Settingthestandard
the concept that immigrant women themselves are uniquely equipped to find solutions to the problems that most directly affect their lives. MUA’s direct service program is rooted in this philosophy by ensuring that the services we offer – individual and group counseling, support groups, referrals and accompaniment to other community resources, domestic violence and sexual assault intervention, and...

Pacific Vibrations is a rising, soulful reggae band based in the Outer Sunset district of San Francisco, CA. The band plays a mix of original, rootsy, California/Island style reggae with touches of soul, funk, folk and rock. The band is fronted by Kerry Wing, a singer-songwriter and guitarist, born in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California, and Randy Nakamura, a Hawaiian born singer-songwriter and Ukuleleist. Their music always gets the crowd moving, it is upbeat yet conscious with "lyrics th...